FACING THE TURKS.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 August 1915, Page 10

FACING THE TURKS.

BUGLER'S THRILLING STORY. A GALLANT CHARGE. FIVE HAURAKIS CLEAR A TRENCH. WORK WITH THE BAYONET. A youthful bugler, C. .T. Coutis, who was erroneously reported as having been killed in action, writing from No. 1 Australian Hospital, Heliopolis, gives a graphic description of an attack on a Turkish trench, in which a party of the Sfxth Haurakis took part. He says: , '•On. Friday, June 4, about eight o'clock in the morning, we came back from the fi'ing line into reserve trenches for a | couple of days' spell. About 11 a.m. a message came to our vnptain from headquarters asking for seventy men from the Auckland Battalion to volunteer to | charge a Turkish trench. About twenty of our good old Haurnki Company volunteered and lined up before the captain to get particulars. "The captain was very frank with in. He asked ns if we were quite sure of the seriousness of this attack, and said '.t was going to be a dangerous undertaking. Before we left (headquarters we were each given two hand-grenades and were told we went not to retire under any consideration. We were told that our signal to charge would be » bomb fired into the Turkish trench at three minutes to eleven. I must say the worst part of the whole business was the few minutes we were huddled in our trench waiting and watching for the bomb and the word 'Go.' They were minutes of torture. \ "At last, after we had trembled onrscjves tired and given our hearts a gentle push down our necks with our tinge's, we heard that dreadful bomb and also 'Come on, lads!' Almost immediately we jumped out of our trenches and dashed straight for what looked like a r»d-hot fence, (he rifles of the Turks seeming as close together as the pickets of a fence. The moment I put my head above the trench f saw the most dreadful sight, one 1 shall never forget. The ihi-hos of lilies and explosion of shells and bombs were terrific, and the noise was deafening. '•When at last we did reach the Turks' l-'ench there were only seven of us alive, and six of these were wounded. The front of the trench was built up with sand bans ami the Turks were firing I).rough liitle poi-llmles that had been left between the bags, so that they could not see ns until we put our heads over (he (rencli, hut we did not show our lieads until we had (brown the bomb* in, i"id while the con fusion caused by the explosion was going on amongst them B"e jumped into the trench and (hen got to work with the much-dreaded cold steel. "One of our seven had his hand blown off by the Turks, and another was shot through (he heart while getting into the trench, so it left five of us to fight not only for our country, but for our lives. AH live of us were Haurakis. We were

soon in command of j«**ut fifty yard of trench, which wo held until our en I gineers had sapped through and our sup' : ;jorts came to our relief,

"The five of us -were Ossy Delaney vVaihi), Norman Campbell (Waikino), Charlie Nicld (Kavangahake), Jack Harris (Piieroa) and myself. All of us, with the exception of Delaney, are in hospital here. We stood back to back firing and stabbing continuously, and at last got them on the move botli ways. "A mate and I had hardly moved two paces away from the others when, on glancing a bit to our side, we saw two Turks crawling out of a hole in the side of the trench .with their hands up and pleading for mercy, but it was not a position in which we could take prisoners, and there was no time for thinking, so may God forgive and me for killing undefended Turks in such cold blood. If the Turku had known there were only five British in the trenches, what would our fate have 'been?

"We two kept up a continuous fire in front of us, and gradually worked our way up the trench towards Canterbury, but it seemed ages before I got an answer to my incessant calling for New Zealand,

"At last, after about half an hour of shooting, bayoneting and yelling and floundering over dead, we got an answer. How my heart heaved! But only for one second, because the next second a Turk and I met face to face on equal defence. I don't know whether 1 pulled ihe trigger of my rifle, but I lungea and lired at the same tune, and had the pleasure of seeing something glittering going past my right side."

Coutts then describes how they took twenty-one prisoners and joined the Canterbury men. He concludes as follows :

"l'or an hour we worked taking the dead and wounded out of the trench and changing bags to our new front. An olliccr came along in a little while, and the wounded were helped to the dressing station."